Browse through the online discussion that took place after the program aired with Jeremy Williams, producer; Dr Gary Solis, chief of the Oral History Unit at the US Marine Corps Historical Centre in Washington DC; Larry Levine, US Korean War veteran - HQ Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry; Martha Mendoza and Sang-Hun Choe, members of the Associated Press team which won a Pultizer Prize for its reporting on No Gun Ri and Major Robert Bateman, US Army strategist and historian, author of recent book "No Gun Ri: A Military History of the Korean War Incident".

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Kill 'Em All

Broadcast: 05/08/2002

Reporter: Jeremy Williams

"Kids, there was kids out there, it didn’t matter what it was. Eight to 80, blind, crippled or crazy, they shot 'em... Fire on everything! Kill ‘em all!" (US veteran Joe Jackman recalling an army attack on Korean refugees)

"Shoot all refugees coming across the river. All refugees are fair game. Refugees will be considered enemy and dispersed by all available fire including artillery." (written orders to US army commanders in Korea)

As America spurns a new international court to deal with future war crimes, chilling new evidence is emerging about past US culpability in a distant but not forgotten conflict.

For 50 years, South Korean villagers have insisted that American soldiers targeted and killed hundreds of civilians, including women and children, in a series of massacres during the Korean War.

The Pentagon initially dismissed allegations of the massacres, then claimed that civilian deaths were isolated tragedies inherent to war.

But recently unearthed evidence contradicts the official line.

This film from the BBC’s Timewatch program reveals a series of orders from senior commanders to treat all civilians as enemies. "All civilians moving around in combat zone will be considered as unfriendly, and shot," said one such instruction.

"The army has requested that we strafe all civilian refugee parties that are noted approaching our positions," noted an air force memo. "To date we have complied with the army request."

The program presents harrowing accounts from survivors of the massacres and from US veterans who were present.

In one case scores of terrified refugees were hiding in a railway tunnel. When a baby’s constant crying drew American fire, the boy’s father was told to keep him quiet. "He might have thought the baby would die anyway. He took it to the back of the tunnel and pushed him face down in a pool of water," says one witness.

A US veteran recalls his commander telling him to machine-gun a group of about 50 refugees. "I said, 'we can’t kill all these people,' and he pulled out his handgun, a .45, and pointed it at my head, he said, 'Kill 'em, you’re directly disobeying a direct order in combat'."

“Kill ‘Em All: American War Crimes in Korea” was first broadcast on ABC TV on Monday 5 August, 2002.

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